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Providing a 360 View of the Customer

Better Service - Higher Sales



March 2010
Cindy Jutras, Peter Ostrow










Providing a 360 View of the Customer: Better Service - Higher Sales
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2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200
Executive Summary
Metrics Defined
Customer retention is the
percentage of accounts that
remained customers since
the last fiscal period
Customer satisfaction
measures the percentage of
customers formally reporting
"better than average"
satisfaction with a company's
products and services
Net client value measures
the customer's annual spend,
measured consistently as
either revenue or bookings
Research Benchmark
Aberdeens Research
Benchmarks provide an in-
depth and comprehensive look
into process, procedure,
methodologies, and
technologies with best practice
identification and actionable
recommendations
Whether driven by a lack of product differentiation, customer demand for
better service, or simply the need to improve the customer experience,
companies are seeking to better understand their customers in order to
more effectively acquire and retain business. This report provides a road
map for improving customer satisfaction and retention without losing sight
of customer profitability by integrating multiple sources of data to complete
the full 360 view of the customer.
Best-in-Class Performance
Aberdeen used the following four key performance criteria to distinguish
Best-in-Class companies from among over 375 survey respondents. Top
performers achieved the following results:
91% customer retention
88% customer satisfaction
6% of subordinates time spent searching for customer data
6% increase in Net Client Value (NCV) year over year
Competitive Maturity Assessment
Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance
shared several common characteristics, including:
80% capture customer history and make it visible to all customer-
facing staff
52% have a technology-based common view of the customer
72% monitor customer satisfaction on a regular basis
Required Actions
In addition to the specific recommendations in Chapter Three of this
report, to achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must: When you look at a client,
you get a holistic view, which
includes business summaries in
all lines of business and all
touch points, in-person
meetings, phones calls, emails
sent or touches via marketing
campaigns, all in one location.
~ Customer Brian Taranto,
Chief Administrative Officer,
Eaton Vance Distributors

Get everyone on the same page with technology-based views
Monitor customer profitability and satisfaction and define protocols
for problem resolution
Integrate enterprise applications that each provide a piece of the
complete set of customer data
Supplement contact and transactional history with intelligence
captured from external sources, but integrate data sources for easy
access

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2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................................... 2
Best-in-Class Performance..................................................................................... 2
Competitive Maturity Assessment....................................................................... 2
Required Actions...................................................................................................... 2
Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class.................................................... 4
Business Context ..................................................................................................... 4
The Maturity Class Framework............................................................................ 5
The Best-in-Class PACE Model ............................................................................ 6
Best-in-Class Strategies........................................................................................... 7
Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success.................................10
Competitive Assessment......................................................................................10
Capabilities and Enablers......................................................................................12
Chapter Three: Required Actions .........................................................................20
Laggard Steps to Success......................................................................................20
Industry Average Steps to Success ....................................................................20
Best-in-Class Steps to Success............................................................................21
Appendix A: Research Methodology.....................................................................23
Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research............................................................25
Figures
Figure 1: "Top Two" Pressures to Improve the Customer View...................... 4
Figure 2: "Top Two" Strategic Actions .................................................................... 7
Figure 3: Where is customer data stored? ............................................................. 9
Figure 4: Technology-based Views..........................................................................13
Figure 5: Enterprise Applications Providing Customer Insight.........................15
Figure 6: Supporting Tools and Technology.........................................................16
Figure 7: Levels of Integration..................................................................................19
Tables
Table 1: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status.............................................. 5
Table 2: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework ....................................................... 6
Table 3: Satisfaction with Customer Data .............................................................. 8
Table 4: The Competitive Framework...................................................................11
Table 5: The PACE Framework Key ......................................................................24
Table 6: The Competitive Framework Key ..........................................................24
Table 7: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework
.........................................................................................................................................24

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2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200
Chapter One:
Benchmarking the Best-in-Class
Business Context
Fast Facts
The Best-in-Class achieve
47% higher customer
retention and 175% better
customer satisfaction than
Laggards
The Best-in-Class enjoyed an
increase of 6% in Net Client
Value (NCV) year over year,
while all others experienced
a decline in NCV
Staff members in Best-in-
Class companies spend 63%
less of their time searching
for customer data
A true 360 view of the customer is a win-win situation for all parties
involved: buyers benefit from better service and efficiency, and sellers derive
improved loyalty and, inevitably, more repeat business from established
customers. A scant 4% of 377 survey respondents felt they had achieved the
full potential of business from existing customers. While 26% had a very
strong penetration, they felt they could still benefit more from additional
up-sell and cross-sell opportunities and 58% are definitely leaving money on
the table or rarely achieve the full potential of Net Client Value (NCV). All
these factors combine to make a true 360 view of each customer a priority
for all companies.
Two dominant themes prevail in identifying the business drivers behind the
need and/or desire to gain a more complete view of each customer: service
and sales. The top pressures identified focused on improving service, but
better service is a key to higher sales. Figure 1 shows that these business
drivers vary by company size. As company size grows, pressure appears to
shift from sales as a primary focus to a more indirect focus on additional
sales through better service.
Figure 1: "Top Two" Pressures to Improve the Customer View
Company Size Defined
Aberdeen defines company size
in terms of annual revenue:
Small: companies with annual
revenues under $50 million
Midsize: those with annual
revenue between $50 million
and $1 billion
Large: annual revenues
exceed $1 billion
24%
39%
13%
29%
37%
24%
27%
26%
48%
23%
28%
32%
38%
49%
36%
0% 25% 50%
Lack of product differentiation
requires more emphasis on service
Insufficient share of customers
wallet
Activities of all customer-facing
departments are not aligned with
overall business goals
Demand for higher levels of service
by customers
Need to improve the customer
experience
Percentage of respondents, n=377
Large
Midsize
Small

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
The top two pressures overall are the need to improve the customer
experience (42%) and the demand for higher levels of service from
customers (32%). The difference between these two can be subtle. The
need to improve customer experience is directly linked with how easy it is
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for your customers to do business with you. The demand for higher levels
of service relates directly to the delivery of product (including services) and
reflects the need for faster delivery or better overall response.
Small companies (those with annual revenues below $50 million) experience
less difficulty in (and therefore less pressure from) aligning activities of all
customer-facing departments with overall business goals. As companies
grow, the number of people involved grows along with complexity in terms
of communication and collaboration, making it harder for all parties to
remain informed and synchronized. But small companies may not have the
same degree of visibility and leverage with their customers, making it harder
to grow their share of their customers' wallet.
In businesses where product delivered has become a commodity or a
fragmented market makes differentiation difficult, personalized customer
service can become an effective means of creating that differentiation.
Intimate knowledge of the customer is essential to providing personalized
service regardless of company size.
The Maturity Class Framework
Aberdeen used four key performance criteria to distinguish the Best-in-
Class from Industry Average and Laggard organizations. For the purposes of
this report, top performance is defined in terms of achieving a 360 view of
the customer and reaping the appropriate business benefits from that
achievement, namely better service and higher sales from existing
customers.
Table 1: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status
Metrics Defined
Customer retention is the
percentage of accounts that
remained customers since
the last fiscal period
Customer satisfaction
measures the percentage of
customers formally reporting
"better than average"
satisfaction with a company's
products and services
Net client value measures
the customer's annual spend,
measured consistently as
either revenue or bookings
Definition of
Maturity Class
Mean Class Performance
Best-in-Class:
Top 20%
of aggregate
performance scorers
91% customer retention
88% customer satisfaction
6% of subordinates time spent searching for
customer data
6% increase in NCV year over year
Industry Average:
Middle 50%
of aggregate
performance scorers
78% customer retention
71% customer satisfaction
12% of subordinates time spent searching for
customer data
2% decline in NCV year over year
Laggard:
Bottom 30%
of aggregate
performance scorers
62% customer retention
32% customer satisfaction
16% of subordinates time spent searching for
customer data
9% decline in NCV year over year
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
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Because of our integration,
were able to have a two-way
interface. Now we know every
product, quote, discount level,
and can measure things we
never had insight into before.
~ Cindy Skura, Pricing
Manager, CBORD
These benefits are measured through customer retention, customer
satisfaction and the resultant growth in sales to those customers. The
efficiency with which this view is achieved is also an important metric. While
Aberdeen also measured the time spent personally by the survey
respondent, since many of these participants are at a very high level of their
organizations, the percentage of time their subordinates spend in searching
for customer data was deemed as a better measure of efficiency. The better
the view of the customer, the more efficiency is gained in retrieving the data
necessary to respond to and properly service (and sell to) customers.
The Best-in-Class PACE Model
Customer data is stored in a variety of repositories, ranging from file
cabinets to email to enterprise applications such as Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) solutions and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
Indeed 77% of respondents indicated enterprise level applications were the
single most important source of data about their customers. To maximize
the value of these data sources and achieve a high degree of flexibility and
customer responsiveness, companies must blend a combination of strategic
actions and new technologies to:
Integrate multiple sources of data into a single view
Define processes for identifying at risk customers
Notify sales / support managers in advance of potential problems in
delivering the service or product
Enable sales / support managers to be able to drill down to
transactions that form a fiscal and operational audit trail from a
summary view of the customer
Table 2: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework
Pressures Actions Capabilities Enablers
Need to
improve the
customer
experience
(customers find
you hard to do
business with)
Integrate multiple
sources of data
into a single view
of each customer
Replace disparate
point solutions
with a single,
user-friendly
integrated suite
Processes are formally defined
for identifying at risk
customers
Customer history is captured
on a regular basis and visible
to staff
A unified view of the
customers data ensures that
our buyers hear one voice
at all times
Customer satisfaction is
monitored on a regular basis
A single or primary point of
contact in our company is
defined for each customer
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) including SFA (Sales Force
Automation)
Event management, triggers and alerts
Business intelligence platform to support
customer analytics dashboards, portals
Customer data warehouse
Sales intelligence solutions contacts,
trigger alerts
Ability to deliver alerts to a mobile device
Workflow BPM (Business Process
Management)
Internal user-generated content (wikis,
forums, blogs)
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
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2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200
Best-in-Class Strategies
Access to data and two-way communication forms the basis of the strategic
actions being taken in the pursuit of a true 360 view of the customer.
While top performers differentiate themselves by concentrating on a
dialogue with the customer, those who have not yet achieved Best-in-Class
status are strategically focused on integrating multiple sources of data into a
single view (Figure 2).
Figure 2: "Top Two" Strategic Actions
6%
18%
20%
48%
32%
19%
43%
17%
18%
33%
37%
43%
10%
28%
38%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Invest in new applications to provide
differentiation vs. our competitors
Upgrade technology infrastructure
Enable the capture & sharing of voice
of the customer feedback
Integrate multiple sources of data into
a single view
Create new means of communication
with the customer
Percentage of respondents, n=377
Best-in-Class
Industry Average
Laggards

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
The emphasis Best-in-Class companies place on communication with the
customers is apparent in noting that 95% actively measure customer
satisfaction. One in four top performers employs Customer Experience
Management (CEM) technology to formally collect, measure and report on
customer satisfaction, as compared to 6% of Laggards. The remainder of the
95% that actively measure satisfaction regularly collect input from their
customers and are 45% more likely (than those not Best-in-Class) to use
formal communication channels such as surveys and formal focus groups to
capture the "voice of the customer."
Poor performers are indeed the most likely to cite integration of multiple
sources of data as a "top two" strategic action. Since a complete and
consolidated view is the goal, this might appear to be counter-intuitive at
first glance. Why are poor performers more likely to have this strategy? The
answer is quite simple. They are currently dealing with more disparate
sources of data and they lag behind in already having accessibility to high
quality data (Table 3).
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When asked to rate their satisfaction (on a scale of one to five, where five
was "extremely satisfied") Laggard organizations consistently rated both the
quality and accessibility of the data lower than higher performing companies.
Table 3: Satisfaction with Customer Data

Best -
in-
Class
Industry
Average
Laggard
Quality of data (on a scale of 1 to 5) 3.2 2.8 2.5
Accessibility of data (on a scale of 1 to 5) 3.6 3.5 3.1
Number of data sources typically required 2.2 3.3 4.1
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
This can be explained, in part, by the larger number of data sources typically
accessed in responding to an inquiry from or about a customer. Indeed,
Best-in-Class companies are 2.4 times more likely to be able to satisfy an
inquiry from a single data source. This single source may indeed be
consolidating data from multiple applications, databases or repositories
behind the scenes, but if properly integrated can appear to be a single
source of data, improving efficiency and completing the view of the
customer.
Any attempt to integrate multiple sources of data will be impacted by the
underlying technology infrastructure. Legacy systems and outdated
architectures limit the ability to create a consolidated view that is easily
navigated. Ideally customer-facing employees should have access to
summary data with the ability to drill down to successive levels of detail. As
we can see from Figure 2, the need to update technology infrastructure is
equally prevalent across all the maturity classes, but the Best-in-Class are
twice as likely as all other companies (Industry Average and Laggards
combined) to be planning to invest in new applications that help them
provide a differentiated level of service to their customers.
Aberdeen Insights Strategy
Given the maturity of enterprise applications such as CRM and ERP, one
might expect that these applications would be the most likely places
where customer data is stored. Yet while the majority of companies do
store customer data in CRM, a combination of email and desktop
productivity tools (such as spreadsheets and desktop databases) are
more likely to be repositories for customer data than either ERP or
separate accounting applications.
continued


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Aberdeen Insights Strategy
Figure 3: Where is customer data stored?
36%
54%
24%
25%
25%
25%
33%
34%
39%
76%
20%
21%
26%
44%
69%
23%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Contact center or call center application
Home-grown data bases
Accounting softtware (not ERP)
File Cabinets (paper documents)
ERP
Desktop tools
Email
CRM
Percentage of Respondents, n=377
Best-in-Class
All Others

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
While CRM solutions can provide much of the account information
(contacts, conversations, contracts and communications) needed to
understand customer attributes, and to track and manage interactions
between the provider and customer, they are not designed or developed
to provide a transactional system of record. For the transactional, fiscal
audit trail, ERP solutions that form the operational system of record
within the business can provide the missing link to complete the view.
For those companies where a physical product is not shipped, a stand-
alone accounting solution may suffice to provide that system of record.
Integration of the contact system of record and the transactional system
of record is required for a complete view of the customer. Home-grown
enterprise level solutions and databases can potentially be integrated, but
only with home-grown and custom efforts. At the enterprise level, this
approach might provide an appropriate audit trail, but spreadsheets and
databases confined to the desktop certainly do not.

In the next chapter, we will see what the top performers are doing to
achieve these gains.
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Chapter Two:
Benchmarking Requirements for Success
Fast Facts
The Best-in-Class are more
than twice as likely as
Laggards to provide a
technology-based common
view of the customer to
customer-facing employees
80% of the Best-in-Class
capture customer history on
a regular basis and make this
visible to their staff
65% of the Best-in-Class
have implemented CRM for
customer support and
service
While implementation of
ERP lags behind CRM, where
both are implemented, the
Best-in-Class are more than
three-times as likely to
integrate the two
The integration of CRM, ERP and other repositories of customer-oriented
data within the enterprise plays a crucial role in the ability to turn these
strategies into profit.
Case Study Meyer Plastics
Meyer Plastics provides plastic sheet, sign and graphic supplies, mold
making materials as well as providing engineering, tooling and custom
fabrication services for plastics materials. Understanding our customers
better is key to determining cross-sell and/or up-sell opportunities as
well as increasing customer satisfaction from their interaction with us,
says Rocky Bloniarz, Marketing Manager. We are looking to have more
intelligent conversations with our customers, and want to build our
marketing plans based on their exact needs. Meyer Plastics has been
using an ERP solution for the past 15 years, but did not implement CRM
until 2009, and Bloniarz emphasizes the need for it to have been
immediately integrated into the ERP deployment. It is a very competitive
market, he explains, and in this environment we have to make sure that
we not only get the price right but also provide stellar customer service.
Implementing CRM and integrating it with our ERP system is focused
exactly on that.
The Meyer CRM system is currently fully implemented among company
management and todays focus is encouraging the sales reps to learn and
adopt it. As Bloniarz explains, We are changing the company culture and
educating our sales reps that this new system will help them do less work
and increase the quality of the work they do. We know the benefits from
full implementation of the CRM system, and integrating it with our ERP
system and senior management is committed to achieving this
integration.
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We are already seeing the benefits of this process, concludes Bloniarz.
Our sales team is restructuring to adapt to consistent use of CRM and
using the integrated information in their interaction with customers.
When we complete the adoption of CRM all across the organization and
use the integrated information available about our customers, we expect
to not only improve our customer service but also our financial results.
Understanding our customers
better is key to determining
cross-sell and/or up-sell
opportunities as well as
increasing customer satisfaction
from their interaction with us.
~ Rocky Bloniarz, Marketing
Manager, Meyer Plastics
Competitive Assessment
Aberdeen Group analyzed the aggregated metrics of surveyed companies to
determine whether their performance ranked as Best-in-Class, Industry
Average, or Laggard. In addition to having common performance levels, each
class also shared characteristics in five key categories: (1) process (the ability
to collect utilize customer data); (2) organization (the ability to effectively
channel customer contact); (3) knowledge management (contextualizing
data and exposing it to key stakeholders); (4) technology (the selection of
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the appropriate tools and the effective deployment of those tools); and (5)
performance management (the ability of the organization to measure
customer satisfaction and profitability). These characteristics (identified in
Table 4) serve as a guideline for best practices, and correlate directly with
Best-in-Class performance across the key metrics.
Table 4: The Competitive Framework
Best-in-Class Average Laggards
Customer history is captured on a regular basis and visible
to our staff
80% 61% 45%
Processes are formally defined for identifying at risk
customers
49% 29% 22%
Standard problem resolution/escalation protocols are
defined to ensure customer satisfaction
Process
59% 47% 44%
A unified view of the customers data ensures that our
buyers hear one voice at all times
48% 32% 19%
A single or primary point of contact in our company is
defined for each customer
Organization
77% 55% 43%
All internal stakeholders share a technology-based common
view of the customer
52% 35% 25%
From a summary view of the customer, sales/support
managers can drill down to transactions that form a fiscal
and operational audit trail of the full customer history
56% 43% 25%
Unstructured data from web-based sources (corporate
sites, sales intelligence/news feeds, trigger/alerts) is
captured and displayed as part of an enterprise view of the
customer
Knowledge
25% 13% 11%
Mobile access to CRM or Sales Force Automation
applications
34% 25% 20%
ERP is integrated with CRM
26% 16% 8%
Performance dashboards are implemented
Technology
48% 35% 24%
Profitability of each customer is reported and monitored on
a regular basis
49% 40% 31%
Customer satisfaction is monitored on a regular basis
Performance
72% 62% 30%
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
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2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200
Capabilities and Enablers
Having this information about
your clients and prospects has
become mandatory in todays
world. Buyers expect you to
have done your homework and
that you care about them once
they have bought; if they dont
get that feeling its on to the
next product or vendor. They
arent afraid to shop around if
theyre not getting exactly what
they expect.
~ Mike Pridavka, Managing
Partner, Datasentials
Based on the findings of the Competitive Framework and interviews with
end users, Aberdeens analysis of the Best-in-Class demonstrates that a
highly identifiable set of corporate capabilities and enablers can lead to
measurable business success.
Process
A complete view of the customer is impossible to achieve without first
collecting the historical data associated with that customer. This requires
formal processes for capturing a record of customer contact, as well as of
transactions, and organizing both in such a manner that all may be easily
retrieved. If left to the individual to decide what to capture and where to
store the data, the result is a disorganized collection of inconsistent data
that cannot uniformly viewed to provide a concise summary of customer
activity.
The vast majority (80%) of the Best-in-Class indeed has not only formalized
this process, but also provided a vehicle by which it can be retrieved and
viewed. As a result, these top performers are almost twice as likely as other
organizations to take the next step and formalize processes for identifying
"at risk" customers. These may be triggered by a sudden drop in customer
spend or engagement. Where these problems can be identified, standard
problem reconciliation or escalation protocols can be defined to respond
quickly, minimizing the negative impact on customer satisfaction, retention
or net client value. This type of "rapid response" can be a differentiator
when companies are able to minimize customer relationship damage, or
even capitalize on revenue-oriented opportunities that may otherwise be
hidden.
Specific interaction with the customer is not the only potential means of
identifying risks. External events such as management changes, mergers-and-
acquisitions or dramatic market changes can also be sources of identifying
an "at risk" customer. However, it is still somewhat rare for even Best-in-
Class companies to automate these external triggers. While the Best-in-
Class are more likely than other companies to utilize solutions that provide
alerts created by external sources of business trigger events such as
financial and market news or executive changes, it is still important to
include these types of possibilities in the defined processes and protocols.
Many organizations pay lip
service to this concept without
the willingness to invest the
money and resources to make
it a reality. Multiple systems
and redundant, inaccurate data
are all major obstacles to a
truly 360 degree view of the
customer. While revenue is
always king, there is a strong
argument to be made that
putting the systems, processes
and people in place to make
this a reality will have an
obvious and positive benefit on
the bottom line.
~ Chris Bermudez, Global
Commercial Operations,
Affymetrix
Organization
How often have customers been frustrated by receiving "mixed messages"
from sales or service staff from their provider? Aberdeen's research
dramatically indicates the negative business ramifications of, for example, a
sales representative calling into an account in the hopes of renewing or up-
selling the relationship, only to discover that an Accounts Receivable
colleague just sent the account to an external collection agency for non-
payment. The negative image this scenario paints of the solution provider is
evidently lost on Laggards, none of whom indicate that a unified view of the
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2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200
account creates value in speaking with "one voice" to the customer. Nearly
three-quarters of the Best-in-Class, however, recognize the importance of
this organizational capability, and create far more customer stability and,
ultimately, better net client value, as a result of proactively aligning every
department's visibility into the customer.
On the other side of the customer relationship equation, companies that
create a "go-to" or single point of contact for their customers also see
better bottom-line results, recognizing the value to satisfaction and
retention trends in creating an advocate or sponsor for their customer. This
does not imply that a complex, multi-million-dollar vendor/client
relationship requires that all communications filter through a single
individual; rather it merely identifies a clear department and discussion path
so that the trajectory of any issue resolution process is as seamless and free
of red tape as possible.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management capabilities are really at the heart of providing a full
360 view of the customer. Without a technology-based view of the
customer, delays, inconsistencies and inaccuracies cannot help but be
introduced. Best-in-Class companies are more than twice as adept as
Laggards at using technology to ensure that at all levels of the company
share a common technology-based view, but still, almost half (48%) of those
top performers have yet to achieve this, indicating significant room for
improvement.
Figure 4: Technology-based Views
52%
56%
42%
35%
43%
33%
25% 25%
27%
0%
25%
50%
75%
All internal stakeholders share a
technology-based common view of
the customer
From a summary view of the
customer, sales/support managers
can drill down to transactions that
form a fiscal and operational audit
trail of the full customer history
Views of customer data can be
personalized at the individual level
without IT support
Best-in-Class Industry Average Laggards

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
Figure 4 also shows an interesting contradiction. While 56% of the Best-in-
Class are able to drill down to transactions from a summary view, only 52%
provide this common view to all internal stakeholders. Similar contrasts can
be seen in the Industry Average category as well, where 43% have the
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technological capability but only 35% deploy it across all the enterprise for a
consistent view. This capability has become a standard feature of ERP
solutions today, but requires the user of the solution to deploy a relatively
recent release of the software. Older versions, perhaps still based on less
flexible and less adaptable technology architectures, may prevent companies
from taking advantage of these features. And, of course, those utilizing
home-grown or disparate, non-integrated solutions will face the same
limitation.
While a common customer view is important, different stakeholders may
indeed require a different view, depending on their role in the organization.
The ability to tailor those views to the individual without involving the
Information Technology (IT) staff can be a key enabler in providing a more
universal view. Again we see the Best-in-Class differentiated from all others,
but this is by no means pervasive even at this level of performance. Again,
older technologies and lack of integration between customer interaction
and transactions can also present obstacles.
Aberdeen research gathered from 528 companies for the February 2010
Sales Intelligence: Preparing for Smarter Selling report correlated the
incorporation of external, unstructured data into customer data with higher
year-over-year increase in corporate revenue. This speaks to the value of
capturing and displaying external, unstructured data within the customer
record across multiple departmental views. Considering the aphorism,
"today's customers know more than the sellers" due to pervasive internet
content, it is crucial for companies to collect updated news and content
about their customers' companies, individual contacts and market dynamics,
and integrate them into the view of the customer. This data is not limited to
subscriptions that provide data on business executives or corporate
takeovers; it can include social media content such as Twitter, Facebook,
blogs, etc. and provide potentially valuable, time-sensitive insight into events
that are first published as "buzz" before they appear in formal press releases.
While the Best-in-Class are more than twice as likely to incorporate this
into their view of the customer, we are still in early adopter phases with
only one in four top performers making this connection.
Technology
We have seen that the use of technology to provide a common view of the
customer correlates to higher customer satisfaction, retention and net
client value. However, which enterprise applications and which other tools
and technologies come into play in providing this view?
CRM solutions are more commonly adopted for this purpose. However,
CRM solutions serve three masters - marketing, sales, and service - and may
be designed to address one, two or all three of these functions within an
organization. In the context of a complete customer view playing a key role
in providing better service and higher sales, the connection with Sales Force
Automation (SFA) and CRM for service or support is apparent. However,
there is a connection to the marketing side of the house as well.
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While for the most part we have been describing the view of the customer
in the singular, i.e. providing a view of each customer one at a time, there is
also value in looking at customers or groups of customers in the aggregate.
For instance, marketing campaigns can be better targeted to reflect actual
customer preferences; coupling this with the singular view of the individual
customer allows these campaigns to be personalized to individual customers
or customer groups. So each of the three of these solutions plays a role in
translating the view CRM provides into better service and higher sales.
Figure 5 illustrates that those better equipped to satisfy and retain
customers and gain client share (NCV) are also better equipped with these
CRM solutions. Not only are the top performers more likely to adopt these
solutions, but they are also most likely to provide mobile access to CRM
and SFA solutions. As the workforce becomes more mobile, providing
immediate access even when not directly tethered to the solution keeps the
view of the customer both consistent and up-to-date.
Figure 5: Enterprise Applications Providing Customer Insight
40%
39%
49%
41%
46%
52%
55%
65%
0% 25% 50% 75%
ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning)
CRM : Marketing
Automation
CRM : SFA (Sales
Force Automation)
CRM : Customer
Service / Support
Percentage of Respondents, n=377
Best-in-Class
All Others

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
ERP is the other enterprise application that plays the most significant role in
providing a complete view of the customer. While CRM is able to capture a
system of record of the contact and interaction with customers (and
prospects), unless CRM is being used for something other than what it was
intended for, it does not capture the transactions that form the operational
and fiscal audit of business conducted with the customer. This includes sales
orders, shipments or delivery of goods and/or services, invoices, open
accounts receivable and cash collection.
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Of course ERP is not the only possible enterprise application in which this
system of record is kept. While many mistakenly believe the implementation
of ERP to be pervasive, data collected in late 2009 for Aberdeen's quarterly
Aberdeen Business Review found ERP to be implemented in only 41% of
1230 companies surveyed. Adoption rates varied across industry, with
manufacturing leading the pack at 74% and service providers and non-profits
trailing at 30% each. Data shown in Figure 5 further confirms these adoption
rates, with a Best-in-Class ERP adoption rate of 46%, outpacing all others at
40%.
This data only serves to emphasize the difficulty many companies have in
providing a complete and uniform view of customer data across the
enterprise.
Several other tools and technologies serve to support a 360 view of the
customer. Figure 6 includes those with the highest adoption rates, all of
which are more likely to be utilized by our top performers. These tools and
technologies fall into two general categories: those that are used to collect,
store and analyze data and those that manage the flow of data and
processes.
While customer dashboard or portals tend to be used to view individual
customers, performance dashboards may look at the individual performance
of customer profitability and sales, performance dashboards are useful in
analyzing aggregate performance, and are often built on top of Business
Intelligence (BI) platforms that support customer, operational and corporate
analytics.
Figure 6: Supporting Tools and Technology
12%
23%
19%
25%
27%
31%
30%
30%
36%
38%
39%
41%
41%
48%
0% 25% 50% 75%
MDM (Master Data Management)
Workflow - BPM (Business Process
Management)
Customer oriented dashboards, portals
Event management, triggers and alerts
Business intelligence platform to support
customer analytics
Customer data warehouse
Performance dashboards
Percentage of Respondents, n=377
Best-in-Class
All Others

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
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Given the potentially disparate sources of customer data, it is not surprising
to see a customer data warehouse as one of the more frequently
implemented technologies, providing a repository for data that may be
aggregated or consolidated from multiple sources, including CRM, ERP,
other enterprise applications, as well as external sources of data which may
be either structured or unstructured. Master Data Management (MDM) can
be particularly helpful in providing mapping of data between disparate
applications with unique master data coding. For example, where multiple
divisions of a larger enterprise may do business with the same customer,
but using different customer and/or product codes, MDM may be required
to map these apparently disconnected customers and products for a
consolidated view.
The ability to manage the flow of data as well as business processes which
may be triggered by the data can be greatly enhanced through the use of
automated workflow or Business Process Management (BPM) tools. These
automation capabilities may be embedded within individual enterprise
applications or layered on top of one or multiple solutions.
Case Study DB Schenker
DB Schenker is a leading international logistics and transportation
company with more than 90,000 employees around the world. We want
to serve our customers better by understanding their specific needs and
solving their problems in a timely fashion, says Jeremy Stuckhardt,
Director of Central Sales, Marketing and Customer Service. Achieving a
360 view of the customer allows us to focus on customer satisfaction,
and can be used to give insight into customer behavior and help to better
understand how to keep their business.
Data tracking, data quality as well as access to data were challenges we
were facing in our initiatives to better understand and serve our
customers, says Stuckhardt. The company was also facing the challenge
of not being able to capture some important customer information due
to business or operational decisions made without thinking about the
back-end pieces. In order to cope with these challenges, DB Schenker
integrates its ERP system with its two CRM solutions and other
enterprise systems, with the goal of achieving a broad overview and
understanding of customers. The different systems are not yet fully
integrated with each other and this creates challenges in data tracking,
data quality and access to data but DB Schenker is working on
completely integrating these different systems in order to achieve a true
360view of its customers.
Even with the economic downturn of last year, we retained most of our
customers, says Stuckhardt. We were able to improve customer
satisfaction and reduce customer defection as a result of our initiative to
integrate our back-office and front-office systems. Understanding our
customers better also helped us diversify our offerings to meet their
needs.
Achieving a 360view of the
customer allows us to focus on
customer satisfaction, and can
be used to give insight on
customer behavior and help to
better understand how to keep
their business.
~ Jeremy Stuckhardt, Director
of Central Sales, Marketing and
Customer Service, DB
Schenker
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Performance Management
While the top line (revenue) is often seen as a crucial bellwether of
corporate success, and may have been all that mattered to investors 10
years ago, the overall profit of an organization inevitably becomes the key to
long-term success. While overall profitability is important, potential
improvements can be masked by only looking at profitability in the
aggregate. Performance can be significantly enhanced by determining which
customers are most (or least) profitable. Indeed, our Best-in-Class are most
likely to monitor the profitability of each customer on a regular basis.
Among survey respondents for this study, these organizations are 58% more
likely than Laggards to consistently understand and report on the
profitability of individual customers, ensuring that service and sales teams
are not "working harder, but not smarter." By creating an accurate, real-
time view of each account's true value to the organization, management can
selectively over-service highly profitable customers, and perhaps think twice
about renewing highly discounted relationships with accounts that are not
adding bottom-line benefits to their company.
Because the overall goals are better service and higher sales, it is also critical
to continually monitor customer satisfaction since it ultimately will impact
customer retention and customer share. Customers vote with their wallet.
While the Best-in-Class are ultimately most likely to monitor this important
performance metric, Industry Average companies are close behind in this
capability, making it all that much more important for top performers not
continually measuring customer satisfaction to adopt this approach post
haste in order to maintain their performance advantage.
Aberdeen Insights Technology
Everyone has access to the
information from anywhere,
and can update it from
anywhere, anytime. This keeps
us on top of our game when
talking to our clients and
prospects, and allows more
than one person to speak to
the customer, but with a
unified voice and up-to-the-
minute relationship
knowledge.
~ Greg Mahoney, Business
Analyst, Marketing and
Accounting, Harbourvest
Integration of data is an important factor in providing a complete view of
the customer. Not only are the Best-in-Class more likely to have
implemented enterprise solutions including CRM and ERP, but they are
also twice as likely to integrate these two applications. But, as noted in
Chapter One, the number of data sources accessed in responding to a
customer inquiry ranged from 2.2 in Best-in-Class to 4.1 in Laggard
organizations. In spite of multiple disparate sources of data, good
integration can eliminate the need to jump from application to application
in the search for answers.
continued






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Aberdeen Insights Technology
Figure 7: Levels of Integration
23%
33%
8%
12%
24%
13%
25%
15% 15%
32%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
No integration Limited
integration
between data
sources
Data is
manually
moved
between
applications
Multiple data
bases are
updated and
synchronized
on a regular
basis
All enterpise
applications
are fully and
seamlessly
integrated
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

o
f

R
e
s
p
o
n
d
e
n
t
s
,

n
-
3
7
7
Best-in-Class All Others

Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
Figure 7 shows that the Best-in-Class may indeed not be dealing with
significantly fewer sources of data, but instead may simply have more fully
and seamlessly integrated those data sources to present a single and
consolidated view. However, even the majority of top performers have
yet to achieve full integration. Limited integration is the predominant
theme across all maturity classes, signaling a significant opportunity to
improve the view.
In many cases the ability to seamlessly integrate is a function of the level
of openness and flexibility of underlying architectures. Newer
technologies significantly enhance this capability so companies stuck on
older, proprietary infrastructures would be well-advised to consider all
sources of data that relate to the customer in considering a technology
refresh.

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Chapter Three:
Required Actions
Fast Facts
72% of the Best-in-Class
consistently and regularly
monitor customer
satisfaction
The Best-in-Class are 152%
more likely than Laggards to
provide a unified view of
customer data to ensure the
customer hears "one voice"
at all times
The Best-in-Class are 123%
more likely to formalize
processes for identifying "at
risk" customers
Whether a company is trying to move its performance in achieving a 360
customer view from Laggard to Industry Average, or Industry Average to
Best-in-Class, the following actions will help spur the necessary performance
improvements:
Laggard Steps to Success
Monitor customer satisfaction regularly and take action based
on what you learn. Less than a third of Laggards deploy this
performance-oriented capability, while other companies more than
double this rate. The Best-in-Class metrics that define the maturity
classes within this research - customer retention, satisfaction and
growth in average customer spend - speak not only to the value of
gaining real-time insight into the health of customer relationships,
but to the bottom-line results that directly impact a company's own
fiscal well-being.
Get everyone on the same page with technology that allows
all internal stakeholders to see, and potentially act upon, the same
customer-oriented data. The Best-in-Class are more than twice as
likely as Laggards to understand that "the customer is king" and to
provide access, insight and support technologies to everyone in
their organization who can positively impact the longevity and
quality of each customer relationship. This means that in addition to
traditional sales or customer service reps, departments such as
marketing and finance have access to at least some of the same
customer-oriented information, and are in turn provided with the
ability to proactively nominate a course of action that supports the
long-term health of the account.
Watch the bottom line, rather than merely gross customer
spend, by monitoring and reporting on the profitability of individual
customer relationships. Without integrating the data from financial,
selling and customer servicing transactions that apply to a specific
account, Laggards trail the Best-in-Class by 58% in terms of gaining
accurate visibility into whether a customer's spend has any net value
to their organization. No company would deny the merits of
"working smarter, not harder," so it follows that Laggards need to
ramp up their focus on their own financial health, by ensuring that
customer acquisition and support decisions are better informed by
the knowledge of potential, current and past profitability of each
customer they engage.
Industry Average Steps to Success
Identify the weakest links in your business by instituting
processes to define at-risk accounts. Trailing the Best-in-Class by
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69% in deploying this capability, Industry Average companies are ill-
equipped to retain, let alone profitably grow, their customer
relationships, by not creating for their staff enough insight into the
satisfaction, spending behavior or red-flag communications that
could indicate a potential drop in or complete loss of revenue from
a vital account relationship. It is far better to enable customer-facing
staff with the relevant financial, service ticket, market news or other
intelligence so they can proactively address potential problems
before they grow into crises.
The technology we use to
bring together a single view of
our data warehouse, CRM,
marketing results and past
transactions, helps us
understand the total picture of
the Financial Advisor's
relationship with us - both on-
line and off-line. Were better
able to capture and act on
those results.
~ Scot Hawthorne, Vice
President, J.P. Morgan Funds
Management, Intermediary
Services
Know your customer by capturing and promulgating their history
to all relevant internal stakeholders. The highest percentage of any
Best-in-Class capability is represented by this process, while
Industry Average companies trail the top performers by 31% in
recognizing the benefits of this kind of crucial account insight.
Ideally, the "customer history" is more than a register of
transactions, but includes rich content regarding all interactions with
the account through the entire customer lifecycle, from initial
marketing engagement, through the selling, negotiating and
contractual discussions, to problem resolution and even predicted
future revenue data. Throw in a few predictive analytics, and your
ability to better predict the health of your own business has been
greatly augmented as well.
Speak in "one voice" so that consistent messaging is received by
your prospects and customers at all times. With only 32% of
Industry Average companies adopting a unified view of a customer's
data in order to provide a "one voice" approach, versus 48% of the
Best-in-Class, the performance of these companies regarding
customer retention, satisfaction and net client value is measurably
worse. Top performers, on the other hand, recognize the subtle but
highly valuable impact of avoiding the kind of relationship-damaging
corporate faux pas that can result from inconsistent or conflicting
messaging sent to, and received by, a confused or frustrated
customer.
Best-in-Class Steps to Success
Integrate ERP with CRM to achieve a better, holistic
understanding of all facets of your customer relationships. While the
Best-in-Class are far more likely than other companies to invest in
this technology enabler, almost three-quarters of top-performing
companies have yet to embrace the value of achieving this single
view. Since only 4% of the survey respondents felt they had
achieved the full potential of business from existing customers, a
true 360 view of the customer is a win-win situation for all parties
involved: buyers benefit from better service and efficiency, and
sellers derive improved loyalty and, inevitably, more repeat business
from established customers.
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Grow the knowledge base of your customers with the
capture, integration and display of unstructured sales intelligence
that impacts your ability to retain and grow their spend with your
company. While executing this capability at twice the rate of other
companies, only a quarter of the Best-in-Class have fully realized the
potential of empowering customer-facing staff with real-time
knowledge about the people, companies and business news they
need in order to fully support, up-sell, cross-sell and increase the
net value of each customer relationship. Incorporating relevant
news feeds, triggers, market alerts or social media content into the
CRM system is relatively simple, and can help the Best-in-Class
maintain their status as top performers.
Cut the cord. Much as Aberdeen research has consistently defined
the growth of mobile sales technologies deployed by all maturity
classes, so too should the Best-in-Class recognize that on-the-road
access to CRM deployments is no longer limited to the traditional
traveling sales rep. Indeed, since both service and even marketing
professionals with responsibility for maintaining or growing existing
customer relationships are in possession of smart-phones on a
personal or business basis, companies empowering these individuals
to see, change and update customer records "on the fly" show
better performance as a result. Still, with two-thirds of the Best-in-
Class not yet adopting this capability, there remains significant room
for improvement among top performers as well.
Aberdeen Insights Summary
Most, if not all companies today recognize the importance of providing a
true 360 view of the customer. Customers benefit from better service
and efficiency, and sellers derive improved loyalty and, inevitably, more
repeat business from established customers. Yet few achieve this desired
level of visibility. Customer data remains in a variety of repositories,
some of which are still paper-based. Even much of the electronic data is
not only unstructured but disorganized and not easily retrievable. The
more disconnected and disorganized the data, the lower the likelihood
that all customer-facing employees are operating on the same page and
providing a consistent and accurate message to the customer.
The path to providing a complete view of the customer lies not in
eliminating data sources but integrating them and providing access that is
easy to navigate and always available. Enterprise applications such as ERP
and CRM are generally the primary repositories, but integrating other
technologies including business intelligence and analytics, workflow and
event management, social media and sales intelligence sources and
applications complement that data and round out the view. The net
result: better service and higher sales.

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Appendix A:
Research Methodology
Between January and February 2010, Aberdeen examined the use,
experiences and the intentions of 428 enterprises regarding achieving a
unified view of their customer, in a diverse set of industry sectors.
Study Focus
Responding executives
completed an online survey
that included questions
designed to determine the
following:
The degree to which
integrated CRM, ERP and
other systems are deployed
in their operations, and the
business implications of the
technology
The structure and
effectiveness of existing
"360-degree customer view"
implementations
Current and planned use of
these efforts and their
impact on customer
satisfaction, retention and
net client value
The benefits, if any, that have
been derived from these
initiatives
The study aimed to identify
emerging best practices for
customer management
practices and technologies, and
to provide a framework by
which readers could assess
their own management
capabilities.
Aberdeen supplemented this online survey effort with interviews with select
survey respondents, gathering additional information on customer
management strategies, experiences and results.
Responding enterprises included the following:
Job title: The research sample included respondents with the
following job titles: C-level / President (25%); EVP / SVP / VP (13%);
Director (20%); Manager (28%); Consultant (6%); and other (8%).
Department / function: The research sample included respondents
from the following departments or functions: sales or business
development (28%); corporate management (14%); marketing (14%);
IT manager or staff (13%); operations (8%); customer service or
support (7%); and other (16%).
Industry: The research sample included respondents from IT
consulting and services (19%); software (16%); financial services
(7%); telecommunications (6%); computer equipment, hardware or
peripherals (4%); education (4%); transportation and logistics (4%);
and other (40%).
Geography: The majority of respondents (58%) were from North
America. Remaining respondents were from Europe (23%), Asia-
Pacific (11%), Middle East/Africa (4%) and South/Central America
and Caribbean (4%).
Company size: Nineteen percent (19%) of respondents were from
large enterprises (annual revenues above US $1 billion); 30% were
from midsize enterprises (annual revenues between $50 million and
$1 billion); and 51% of respondents were from small businesses
(annual revenues of $50 million or less).
Headcount: Thirty-three percent (33%) of respondents were from
large enterprises (headcount greater than 1,000 employees); 25%
were from midsize enterprises (headcount between 100 and 999
employees); and 42% of respondents were from small businesses
(headcount between 1 and 99 employees).




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Table 5: The PACE Framework Key
Overview
Aberdeen applies a methodology to benchmark research that evaluates the business pressures, actions, capabilities,
and enablers (PACE) that indicate corporate behavior in specific business processes. These terms are defined as
follows:
Pressures external forces that impact an organizations market position, competitiveness, or business
operations (e.g., economic, political and regulatory, technology, changing customer preferences, competitive)
Actions the strategic approaches that an organization takes in response to industry pressures (e.g., align the
corporate business model to leverage industry opportunities, such as product / service strategy, target markets,
financial strategy, go-to-market, and sales strategy)
Capabilities the business process competencies required to execute corporate strategy (e.g., skilled people,
brand, market positioning, viable products / services, ecosystem partners, financing)
Enablers the key functionality of technology solutions required to support the organizations enabling business
practices (e.g., development platform, applications, network connectivity, user interface, training and support,
partner interfaces, data cleansing, and management)
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
Table 6: The Competitive Framework Key
Overview

The Aberdeen Competitive Framework defines enterprises
as falling into one of the following three levels of practices
and performance:
Best-in-Class (20%) Practices that are the best
currently being employed and are significantly superior to
the Industry Average, and result in the top industry
performance.
Industry Average (50%) Practices that represent the
average or norm, and result in average industry
performance.
Laggards (30%) Practices that are significantly behind
the average of the industry, and result in below average
performance.

In the following categories:
Process What is the scope of process
standardization? What is the efficiency and
effectiveness of this process?
Organization How is your company currently
organized to manage and optimize this particular
process?
Knowledge What visibility do you have into key
data and intelligence required to manage this process?
Technology What level of automation have you
used to support this process? How is this automation
integrated and aligned?
Performance What do you measure? How
frequently? Whats your actual performance?
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
Table 7: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework
PACE and the Competitive Framework How They Interact
Aberdeen research indicates that companies that identify the most influential pressures and take the most
transformational and effective actions are most likely to achieve superior performance. The level of competitive
performance that a company achieves is strongly determined by the PACE choices that they make and how well they
execute those decisions.
Source: Aberdeen Group, March 2010
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Appendix B:
Related Aberdeen Research
Related Aberdeen research that forms a companion or reference to this
report includes:
Customer Experience Management: Engaging Loyal Customers to
Evangelize Your Brand; September 2009
ERP in the MidMarket 2009: Managing the Complexities of a Distributed
Environment; August, 2009
ERP in Manufacturing 2009: Expanding Beyond Traditional Boundaries;
June 2009
The ERP / BI Connection: Adding Value through Actionable Intelligence;
July, 2009
Inside Sales Enablement: Let Them Drink Coffee!; December 2009
Sales Training: Translating Tribal Selling Knowledge Into Bottom-Line
Productivity; September 2009
The 2009 Sales Automation Report Best-in-Class Strategies for
Increasing Returns on SFA Investments; August, 2009
Tailor-Made CRM: Best Practices in Customization, Configuration, and
Integration; May, 2008
The Carrot or the Stick? Competing Strategies for Sales Effectiveness;
(July, 2009)
Sales Intelligence: The Secret to Sales Nirvana; January, 2009
CRM in SME: Sized to Fit; March, 2008
CRM Everywhere: The 2008 Software-as-a-Service Update; January,
2008
Information on these and any other Aberdeen publications can be found at
www.aberdeen.com.
Authors: Cindy Jutras, Vice President, Research Development
(cindy.jutras@aberdeen.com)
Peter Ostrow, Research Director, Sales Effectiveness
(peter.ostrow@aberdeen.com)
Since 1988, Aberdeen's research has been helping corporations worldwide become Best-in-Class. Having
benchmarked the performance of more than 644,000 companies, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to provide
organizations with the facts that matter the facts that enable companies to get ahead and drive results. That's why
our research is relied on by more than 2.2 million readers in over 40 countries, 90%of the Fortune 1,000, and 93%of
the Technology 500.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted
marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-
Hanks (Information Opportunity Insight Engagement Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the
strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com
or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.
This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies
provide for objective fact-based research and represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless
otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc. and may not be
reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by
Aberdeen Group, Inc. (071309b)

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